Flying

To determine the best fractional investment, the first thing you have to do is consider your travel profile--including where you fly, how long your trips are, how many passengers you carry, how much luggage you take, what aircraft you prefer and, of course, how much you are willing to spend. Analyzing this information, you can often come up with a single, best solution.

What Americans call "landing gear," the British call "undercarriage," which really is much more logical. That's because an airplane uses its wheels not just to land but also to take off, taxi and sit around in the hangar. Whatever you call it, the part of the aircraft that allows it to move around on the ground has several distinguishing characteristics.

When you buy a seat on a commercial flight, the choice of airline can matter less than the departure and arrival times. But when you book a charter flight, picking the operator is the most important decision you can make. The wrong choice can cost you lots of time and money, or even create safety risks.

Just a few years ago, customers had fewer options in outfitting their aircraft. But the consumerization of business aviation and technological innovations have resulted in a huge range of choices in furnishings and entertainment and communication equipment.

I stopped paying serious attention to fashion years ago. But just out of curiosity, I do check with younger colleagues every now and then to see whether my Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses are in or out of style. I'm told they're in again. That makes at least six cycles since I bought them. By the time you read this, it could be seven.

Have you ever looked around a corporate jet and wished you had more room? Room perhaps to transport not only your closest advisers but also dozens of staff members, in a space the size of a large home? That's what private customers for Airbus' mammoth A380 will have.

Quote/Unquote

“When you get into the larger aircraft it becomes like a hotel, with dozens of staff supporting the plane based in a galley area down below. You have very comprehensive cooking facilities, and on larger aircraft we have looked at theatres, with spiral staircases and a Steinway grand piano. The limitations for what you can put inside a plane are pretty much the limits of physics, and even money cannot always overcome that. Even so, people are still always trying to push [the limits]. ”